OREANDA-NEWS. New research has reveals that the human body clock causes the results of tests for asthma to differ, according to the time of day.

The research, funded by Asthma UK, will be presented today by lead researcher Dr Hannah Durrington from The University of Manchester at the British Thoracic Society’s Winter Meeting.

Dr Durrington will explain that test results from an asthma patient in a morning clinic differ from those taken in the same patient in an afternoon clinic.

Dr Durrington said: “Because the body clock has an impact on asthma, patients could be diagnosed with the wrong type or severity of asthma and that could mean they may miss out on their best treatment.

“Patients with asthma are only too aware that their symptoms of coughing, wheezing and breathlessness change according to the time of day and often worsen in the early hours of the morning, disrupting sleep.

“It’s important to caution that this is ongoing scientific research and it is vital anyone with asthma prescribed medication consults with their doctor before making any change to their treatment routine.

Dr Durrington is based at The University of Manchester, home to the largest biological timing research community in Europe and she also provides an asthma clinic at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT).

The team analysed blood, mucus coughed up from the lungs and the breath of ten moderately severe asthmatics and ten healthy volunteers at different times of the day.

The asthmatic volunteers, as expected, displayed greater narrowing of their airways in the early hours of the morning than in the afternoon and this corresponded with a change in inflammatory cells - or eosinophils - measured in their sputum.

Sputum eosinophil levels are routinely used to guide treatment in severe asthma patients-our results show that sputum eosinophil levels can vary considerably between the morning and afternoon.

So a patient seen in morning clinic will have higher eosinophils leading to an increase in their asthma treatment

However if the same patient is seen in afternoon clinic when their eosionophils are lower-their treatment would be unchanged or even reduced.

Dr Durrington added: “This research is hugely exciting because it helps us to understand how time of day impacts on our ability to accurately diagnose asthma as well as to effectively treat asthma.

“We are now planning a large randomised clinical trial to investigate the best time of day for asthma treatments to be taken.

“We feel it will also have important implications on other lung conditions, as well as outside respiratory medicine.

“The study also points towards opportunities for more personalised treatment for asthma care in the future. In the same way that measuring glucose levels in diabetes allows adjustment of insulin dosing we may see asthmatics monitoring their biomarker chemicals during the day, to help inform optimum treatment times.

“The key finding is that biomarker discovery in asthma must take into account time of day if they are to be of clinical value.”